• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Reps urge NPC to conduct census in 2020

Reps urge NPC to conduct census in 2020

The House of Representatives has urged the National Population Commission (NPC) to come up with a feasible time table for the conduct of a National Census not later than the year 2020.

The House also urged the Federal Government to provide necessary logistics for the conduct of a national census in 2020 as a way of ending the uncertainties surrounding Nigeria’s actual population.

It resolved to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to liaise with the National Population Commission (NPC), the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning and the National Bureau of Statistics to work out modalities on how to conduct a census in 2020 and also to liaise with other foreign donors such as UNFPA, EU, USAID, UNESCO, AU, etc. for necessary support for the exercise.

The Green Chamber took these decisions following the adoption of a motion on: “Need to Commence the long Overdue National Population Census in Nigeria sponsored by Ademorin Kuye.

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Presenting the motion, Kuye said the House noted that the holding of a population census is an important national assignment because its figures are critical for national planning and it is for this reason, among others, that most countries of the world carry out this exercise once every ten years.

According to him, the House: “also notes that without a census, and an accurate data of the number of people in a given country, no government can provide adequately for its citizens as Government requires data to know the number of children being born, the number of schools and hospitals that will be needed, how many
workers are in a given town and how many foreigners are in the country, for the proper provision of infrastructural facilities.

“Further notes that most times, Nigeria’s population is predicated on projected figures provided by foreign organizations like the United Nations, thus making planning extremely difficult in the absence of a population census which the National Population Commission (NPC) would have been ready to conduct every ten (10) years, as is obtainable in other countries, but it is now left to the whims and caprices of the government.

“Recalls that since the first census which was held in Lagos in 1866, there had been a trend towards better planned and more reliable census exercises as subsequent census exercises took place in 1869, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1911, but were limited to Lagos and its environs and some parts of the Southern Protectorate.

“Aware that the 1952/1953 census was the first modern, national and carefully planned census, however, its outcome was not generally accepted as it was not conducted simultaneously throughout the country.

“Also aware that other population censuses that took place at various times between 1953, 1962/1963 and 1973 were well planned.

“Concerned that the last national census was conducted in 2006 and until it becomes mandatory to conduct a census at given intervals like elections, Nigeria will continue to have delays in organizing national census.

“Further aware of the extreme importance of conducting another census to ascertain the country’s actual population in order to do away with projected figures, a development that will enable the Government to plan better for the citizens.

“Worried that if adequate measures are not put in place where population census is conducted periodically at least once every 1 0 years, Nigeria will be lacking in the statistical data of its citizenry either politically or economically.

“Again notes that in 2016, the World Bank estimated Nigeria’s population at 186 million and the United Nations, also in 2017, put Nigeria’s population at 180 million with a growth rate of 2.7 per cent and prior to that in 2016, the former Director-General of the National Population Commission (NPC) Alhaji Ghali Bello had estimated Nigeria’s population to be 182 million with a growth rate of 3.5 per cent.

“Also recalls that the National Assembly had, in 2018, called for the postponement of the proposed 2018 population census on the ground that such an exercise, coming on the eve of the 2019 general elections, could end in chaos.

“Acknowledges that Nigeria has a dynamic economy and a large population which is expected to double in the next two decades and census is a pivotal and necessary tool for the growth of any emerging society, which in turn informs decision-making at all facets of public and private sectors.

“Cognizant that lack of accurate data on the population of Nigeria has been affecting national planning and development at all levels”.